Radical Republicans of France

The Radical Republicans were a republican political faction in French politics that existed from 1870 to 23 June 1901, when it formed the Radical Party of France. The Radical Republicans, unlike the European liberals, supported a constitutional republic and universal suffrage instead of a constitutional monarchy and census suffrage.

Following the Napoleonic Wars and until the French Revolution of 1848, it was illegal to advocate republicanism openly, so republicans instead referred to themselves as "radicals". From 1869 onwards, Georges Clemenceau led a faction of politics branding itself as the "Radicals", who claimed to be the true heirs of French revolutionary tradition. The Radicals were on the far-left of the political board, opposing Leon Gambetta's Opportunists, the liberal Orleanists, the reactionary Legitimists, and the conservative Bonapartists. In 1901, these radicals formed the Radical Party, organizing themselves into a united political faction.